EAST NORRITON — As homecomings go, landing a recurring role on the TV Land smash comedy “The Soul Man” was practically on par with a visit to her old stomping grounds back home for East Norriton native Kellee Stewart.

For starters, she was reunited with series co-star Niecy Nash, who she met while filming the movie “Guess Who” in 2005.

“I played Bernie Mac’s daughter in that movie and Niecy and I have been friends ever since,” said Stewart by phone from her home in Los Angeles, where she’s been enjoying the fruits of a highly successful acting career for the last nine years.

Stewart joined the cast of “The Soul Man” — which premieres for the season on June 19 — for half a dozen episodes as the sister of Nash’s character Lolli Ballentine, the wife of Cedric the Entertainer’s eminently likable Reverend Boyce Ballentine.

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“It was a nice reunion for us, seeing Niecy again,” Stewart said. “We did a little song and a dance together. It was a wonderful opportunity to work with her again.”

Stewart also re-connected on the set with Upper Darby native and “The Soul Man” producer Jamie Kennedy, who had been a co-creator and executive producer of Fran Drescher’s short-lived series “Living with Fran” — the pilot of which served as Stewart’s first professional booking on the west coast.

“When I saw Jamie again I thanked him for giving me my first job in LA,” Stewart said.

If the goal of the lovely brunette’s TV Land gig was to further connect the dots to her past, she couldn’t have asked for a more welcoming link than running into her old Norristown High classmate Jeff Melnick.

Melnick is a producer of “The Soul Man” — as well as TV Land’s top comedy “Hot in Cleveland.”

“Jeff Melnick is a Norristown native and someone I went to high school with,” Stewart said. “Jeff and I have supported each other out here for years. Whenever I get a job, we go out to dinner together. But this is the first time we’ve worked together. This show has been a really great reunion of Norristown people.”

Stewart said she visits her parents, Robert and Mary Ann Stewart, at least or four or five times a year and relishes every minute of every trip back home.

When back on home turf, she never fails to head for Friendly’s on Germantown Pike to enjoy one of the restaurant’s famous sundaes with her old friends, and works off the calories at LA Fitness right around the corner.

On a recent visit, Stewart was surprised to find that legendary landmark Woody’s Golf Center had been replaced with a hospital.

“Things have really changed there,” said Stewart, who happened to be in East Norriton when she got the call for “The Soul Man.”

“I got a call that they wanted to see me for an audition. I went in the very next morning, so I was only home for about 12 hours,” she recalled. “Before I left the studio they said, ‘don’t leave, you got the job.’ ”

In a scenario that embodies every actor’s dream job, she went straight from the audition to rehearsal.

Hollywood-style success came quickly to Stewart — her long list of credits includes the TBS series “My Boys,” the 2010 film “Hot Tub Time Machine” and the upcoming Lifetime drama “Witches of East End” — but here in the east it was a different story, she admitted.

Having potted the seeds of her future craft at Norristown High under the tutelage of theater department director Rory Zummo — who cast her in the lead role of the musical “Hello, Dolly!” her senior year — she initially headed for the stages of New York City after earning her Bachelor’s degree from Suny Purchase College.

“In New York I was a struggling actor, waiting tables, doing Repertory theater, eating beans and rice every day and living with mice,” Stewart said with a laugh. “So I’ve had all those experiences, of having a studio in Brooklyn and not being able to pay my rent on time. I stayed in New York and pursued theater. However, theater doesn’t really pay enough money to survive and build a life.”

A fortuitous opportunity landed her a job as a modeling agent for a time

“Just when I knew I was getting so good at the job that I could have changed careers at the drop of a hat I knew it was time to focus solely on my acting.”

Even with a plum booking as an understudy for a role in the Broadway revival of “Raisin in the Sun,” Stewart heeded the itch to head west.

“I decided instead to roll the dice and move to LA and literally had about 30 days’ worth of money,” she remembered. “I took a flight and stayed at a friend’s house.”

Twenty days after landing in Los Angeles she got her first gig in the “Living With Fran” pilot.

“When I came to Los Angeles it happened quickly for me, but I feel like I paid my dues in New York and I reaped the rewards in Los Angeles,” Stewart said. “What really set things in motion for me was the series ‘My Boys.’”

That night she was having dinner with her friends from the cast of the sitcom, which ran on TBS from 2006 to 2010.

The day after taping her last episode of “The Soul Man” at the end of this month she was set to begin filming “Hot Tub Time Machine II.”

“I’m a busy girl this summer. I’ve been very lucky because I’ve been around very talented comedic actors. People like Fran Drescher, Bernie Mac and Cedric the Entertainer. My career has really been blessed by these great comedic people who really know what they’re doing. ‘The Soul Man,’ in particular, has been one of the warmest, most welcoming shows I’ve ever had the pleasure of working on,” Stewart added. “From the moment I got the job everybody hugged me and said congratulations. And that includes the cast as well as the crew and the writers. There are no egos, and I think that really starts at the top, setting the tone of what they want the show to be like. Cedric thanks everybody who participates. My mother and aunt visited the set one night and they couldn’t have been treated better.”

This fall, Stewart will re-connect with her first love, the theater, but this time as a director.

“Every actor has a different journey,” she said. “I’ve performed in theater for many years, and this is exciting to be doing a different aspect of theater. Now it’s time to learn the next phase of what my career can be. People that really love what they do and follow their passion can’t help but follow these creative outlets. There’s no money behind this play I’m doing, but it’s a passion for me and something I want to be a part of.”